A discourse on Christian education

UD\2i*

DISCOURSE

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION,

DELIVEBED BEFORE THE

ASSOCIATION OF THE ALUMNI OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE,

AT THEIR ANNIVERSARY.

October 9th, 1833,

By WILLIAM EDWARD WYATT.D.D,
Rector of St. Paul's Parish, Baltimore.

PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE ASSOCIATION,

BALTIMORE:

PRINTED BY JOS. ROBINSON,

No. 2, N. Calvert-stveet.

DISCOURSE

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION,

DELIVERED BEFORE THE ASSOCIATION OF THE

ALUMNI OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE.

DISCOURSE

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION,

DELIVERED BEFORE THE

ASSOCIATION OF THE ALUMNI OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE,

AT THEIR ANNIVERSARY,

October 9th, 1833.

Bv WILLIAM EDWARD WYATT, D. D.

Rector of St. Paul's Parish, Baltimore.

PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE ASSOCIATION.

BALTIMORE:

PRINTED BY JOS. ROBINSON,
No. 2, N. Calvert-street.

'h

New- York, October 9, 1833.
Rev. and Dear Sir :

The subscribers, as a committee of the Alumni of
Columbia College, appointed for the purpose, hereby respect-
fully tender to you the thanks of the Alumni, for the address
delivered before them, by you, this morning, and request a
copy of the same for publication.
We are., Rev. and Dear Sir,
Very sincerely,

Your friends and associates,

BENJAMIN T. ONDERDONK,
JAMES R. MANLEY,
JOHN I. IRVINE.
To the Rev. William E. Wyatt, D. D.

DISCOURSE.

Gentlemen, Alumni of Columbia College :

Upon such an anniversary as ours, — before this assem-
bly,— it will not occasion surprize, that I find the office with
which you have honoured me this morning, one of almost
painful interest. More than four and twenty years have elaps-
ed since I last stood within these walls. What changes
do I behold in you, my friends, in myself, in the vener-
able institution from whose maternal guidance many of us
were then just going forth with conflicting hopes and fears !
After a period wjiich covers a large portion of one's active
life, through the flattering remembrance of me by your execu-
tive committee, I return from the comparative retirement of
my professional home; and meet in your assembly those, whose
integrity and talents are contributing to sustain the com-
mercial prosperity of this vast metropolis ; and others whose
names have often reached me, as, in the various halls of justice,
of science, and of legislation, the distinguished friends and
ornaments of our country. With them I find many of the
companions of my boyhood; and especially, those who are

-?

ministering as guardians of public morals, and of the altars of
our religion. The known influence of such recognitions will
at least secure for me your indulgent consideration.

Fathers of the youth who are now just starting forward in
the career, which, at this goal, once filled us with such emo-
tion, we have arrived at a point whence we must look
forward to the coming events in their life, and back upon the
important occurrences of our own, with an emotion deep, per-
haps sad, but not altogether unpleasing. Retrospection with
us derives additional interest from the fact, that the period since
we met, has also been an eventful one to the world. We have
lived in an age familiar with illustrious transactions ; and we
may date almost every important social or domestic occur-
rence, by some convulsion in the great social system of nations,
some signal discovery in science, some practical advancement
in the useful arts, some obvious extension into the old world,
of the spirit of the institutions which have conferred so much
prosperity on this. But amidst all the attending activity and
tumult, while alertness was demanded to accommodate the
interests of communities as well as individuals to the ever
changing position, and while our eye has been diverted from
the passage of time, it has left painful memorials of its achiev-
ments ; and our anniversary appeals powerfully to the heart,
in bringing up the recollection of friends, alumni of the insti-
tution, whose names would have honoured the occasion, and
whose sympathy would have responded warmly to the call.
But where are they ? We have seen some of them, separated
from the stream of life, like waters abruptly falling with tu-
multuous roar and impressive sublimity over a rocky bed ; and

others wending their way by secret and silent outlets, to min-
gle with the former in the same ocean ; having in their course
thither, only betrayed their existence by the peculiar verdure
and brightness of the shrubs which covered their quiet banks.
I cannot refrain from adverting here to the memory of one in
particular,* who having lived long enough to extend our high
estimation of him in his youth, to many others whom his mature
virtues drew into the most sacred relation to him, was faithful
unto death — for us, alas ! too soon. And he has left his name
inscribed upon a venerable pile in this city,t which is equally
a monument of his practical talent, his pure devotion, his sub-
lime zeal, and of your just and affectionate appreciation of him.
How honourable, and how blessed the repose of the righteous
beneath a mausoleum thus reared ! How that edifice conse-
crates the name of Duffie ! And now let the marble perish.
Let the walls of that temple crumble as successive winters
roll over them. There is a spiritual edifice there whose cor-
ner-stone he laid in faith, and which, like the temple of the
Hebrews, shall be built without clamour or violence, — piled
and cemented by the ceaseless, noiseless agency of aspiring
devotion.

Scarcely any train of thought is more alluring, upon such an
occasion, than that to which we should be led in pursuing
similar recollections. They wear to the heart the aspect of a
grateful tribute to worth and affection ; and they animate our
ambition in the same career. And in correspondence with
the presumed object of the appointment with which I am hon-
oured, I might recall to your mind traits of the history and

*Rev. C. R. Duffie, fSt. Thomas' Church,

2

10

virtues of some of the distinguished sons of our academic mo-
ther, if several who have preceded me here, had not in some
degree indulged in a similar design. One especially, — him-
self amongst the most worthy and able, — "laying under con-
tribution to his subject, the examples of theological learning,
classic lore, and the literature of the day, which have emanated
from these halls," while he exhibits the opulence of his own
mind, and the profusion of his resources, forbids so humble
an attempt as mine would be, to follow him.

There is however another matter of common interest left
for me, not inappropriate to the present occasion. And I avail
myself of it readily, because it allows me to yield to the
influence of associations, never, I trust, to be obliterated
from my heart, while endeavouring to urge a profitable subject
in the city of my earliest remembrances and affections. I al-
lude to the necessity and the means of imparting christian
education.

I am acquainted with no subject more important than that of
christian education. And 1 can scarcely imagine any which
receives from the great mass of society, less systematic atten-
tion. Next to his peculiar professional duties, the most urgent
consideration with almost every man appears to be the mea-
sures of government, national relations and transactions. The
exercises of religion occupy no small portion of time, even with
many who disclaim an experience of its hallowing power.
The successful management of societies, literary, benevolent,
religious, — in this age of associations, — appears to be a matter
of general concern. How many are the weeks, days, or
hours, in the course of a year, employed to ascertain, and

11

practise, and disseminate, the most effectual system of training
the young for virtue here, and glory hereafter? I do not ask
the question merely in relation to the duty of parents. If the
interests of science be of common concern ; if national pros-
perity, refinement in social intercourse, the prevalence of
sound morals, the influence of Christianity, be matters which
without exception, have a hold upon the sympathy and affec-
tion of every individual ; then just views of christian educa-
tion have a claim upon the head and heart of every man. The
subject requires a close attention, because there is often much
that is deceptive in the first development of the youthful char-
acter. There may be fair fruits, and valuable fruits, in a
worldly point of view, in which however the heart of the pa-
rent and philanthropist would find no cause to rejoice. Weeds
are often beautiful to the eye; more varied in their tints than
the bursting grain. But men gather them into bundles to burn
them. And so it is with the passions. They spring sponta-
neously in the rank soil of this world. And they are fair as
patriotism, lofty as ambition, thirsty as avarice, or gay and
flaunting in their colours as pride. But if not pruned of their
luxuriance by the careful hand of education, and sanctified by
the dews of heaven, God will root them out in the time of
his displeasure.

I shall offer some remarks upon this subject, with an honest
conviction that it involves consequences more deeply affecting
human happiness, than the prosperity or existence of any na-
tion under the sun.

12

We may infer the importance of christian education, from
the present moral condition of our country, and of the civiliz-
ed world. When, within no very remote period, moral and
political freedom, brought in their train a host of minor corres-
poning privileges, it seemed that the benevolent purposes of
heaven were about to be suddenly and gloriously accomplish-
ed. And this era of new hopes and privileges, which half a
century ago 'was thought to have attained its utmost lustre, has
continuue rapidly and steadily to advance. Institutions of
every kind, for the promotion of science, religion, and the arts,
are multiplied beyond all former example. And about the pe-
riod of the Reformation, if with prophetic spirit one had ex-
hibited the state of things now actually existing ; the ruin in
which whole systems of ancient prejudices and opinions are
seen to lie; the ease with which many luxurious accommodations
are reached by the middle and lower classes ; the speed of the
countless barges, which virtually unite sections of country
hitherto strange and hostile ; the combinations to defend and
raise the tone of moral conduct; the sums almost incalcu-
lable that are brought by fraternal nations, and placed upon the
great altar, as a tribute of affection to the human family, and of
reverence to the common parent of all ; the number of pages
which are borne by every wind over the earth, in the form of
journals of news, journals of science, and of religious tracts; the
multiplication of copies of the scripture, disseminated by foreign
bible societies, and by our own, both national and sectional — if
all this could have been foreseen two or three centuries ago, as
characteristic of the present age, it would have been supposed
that we were destined to live in a day of millenial felicity. But

13

what does experience prove to be the result of all these singular
privileges, these combinations in the cause of religion ? What
is the true condition and character of society ? Is knowledge
universally disseminated ? Is vice driven in confusion from the
higher circles ? And does profligacy hide its head, abashed by
the sobriety and industry which so much knowledge of true
religion ought to produce among the lower? Are nations
regenerated ?

The prevailing impression at the present moment appears
to be that there is an alarming augmentation of crime, — alarm-
ing, because it suggests the idea of personal insecurity, and be-
cause it is the failure of means which, we might almost say, had
exhausted every ingenious device, for bringing back an erring
race to the holy pursuits, and bland dominion originally design-
ed for them. How abject wretchedness still exists among the
lower classes, where prudence and diligence would introduce
competency and enjoyment ! What an appalling exhibition does
the daily register afford in every section even of this country,
of the most ferocious crimes, of the most daring combinations
of iniquity ! To what cause can all this be assigned ? Is it in-
separable from our condition on the earth ? Can religion do
more, without encroaching on our freedom ? Can science be
much more distinctly identified with morals? Will much
larger sums be appropriated to purposes of philanthropy ?

It would seem that no subject had derived as little aid from
the general diffusion of knowledge, as that of christian educa-
tion : that no institutions had been as far from keeping pace with
the moral progress of every thing else in society, as those which
have a direct bearing upon the devout affections of the youthful

14

mind. The spirit of the times, bewildered with enterprize, has
not yet reached so far. Education in the nursery, in the family,
in the schools and universities, while extended to multitudes
who some centuries ago would have been deemed not fit subjects
for intellectual improvement, continues in itself in a great mea-
sure what it was at that time. Germany and France, have, it
is true, long since revolutionized the ancient collegiate sys-
stems; and, expanding the plan of instruction, they offer to all,
the pleasures and advantages of science, as their peculiar pur-
suits can render science profitable. But much progress in the
moral condition of those countries, seems not to have been at-
tained, nor even distinctly aimed at. The Universities of
England, refusing to adopt the more popular form of similar in-
stitutions on the continent, independent institutions under the
denomination of lyceums, lectures, and institutes, were very
extensively formed. But the sole aim of these is to afford the
mercantile and mechanical professions an acquaintance with
the mathematical and physical sciences. They look only at
man as a denizen of this world. These new and extended
modifications of the system of training the young in the paths
of usefulness and respectability, leave untouched the primary
object of education. And it may often prove, that all the re-
finements of society, all the discipline of the schools, all the
enlargement of mental resources, which the much vaunted age
of the march of intellect affords, if not accompanied by the re-
straining spirit of Christianity, has only supplied a power of
doing evil, with more certainty and to more fatal extent. The
Sunday school alone, among modern institutions, is of a different
character: and it is difficult to say enough in praise of the

15

self-sacrificing zeal and piety of those who conduct and sustain
these nurseries for the young. But christian education is a
great work. It is the gradual transformation of a radically
perverted and guilty nature, into a nature, free, benevolent,
pure, devout. It is not so much the communicating of ideas, as
the implanting of principles, and the establishment cf habits.
And when we reflect that the instructions of a couple of hours
on Sunday, may be, and in many cases are, in direct hostility
to the whole force of example, and the whole tone of the max-
ims, and the whole influence of the circumstances, to which the
child is exposed during the rest of the week, it will appear obvi-
ous that the Sunday school alone can never effect all that is ne-
cessarily comprehended in christian education.

Even within the last half century, new temptations and res-
ponsibilities are acting upon large masses in society. Every
condition has been lifted into a higher grade of privileges ; and
the human character is under an artificial or novel excitement,
which would render more active devotion, greater control
over the passions, a clearer perception of the nearness and
paramount importance of eterual things, necessary to spiritual
safety. And in these respects only, there has not been a cor-
responding advancement. So much time, it will be seen, is
consumed in qualifying children to take advantage of the open
avenues to distinction which the state of the world affords,
that not even as much time is allotted to their religious train-
ing, as formerly when their dangers were much less.

The importance of christian education may be inferred
also from the spirit manifested and the measures employed by
parents in qualifying their children for usefulness, distinction

16

and success, in their present stage of being. And if this were
their only field of action nothing could be more judicious than
many of these measures. With the first development of the
faculties, a spirit of rivalry is studiously awakened. Children
are rewarded for excelling their companions : they are re-
proached for being less acute, less diligent, less decorous ; and
not for positive degrees of faithfulness or negligence. A suc-
cession of teachers affords a constantly renewed excitement;
and many branches are laboriously inculcated, which scarce-
ly any contingency can bring into direct application, merely
because they enlarge the views, afford means of rational en-
tertainment, and place the youth in a position as reputable as
that of his companions. If neither a fondness, nor a talent, for
the fine arts spontaneously appears, it is hoped that with cul-
ture it may be elicited, because they polish the mind. And
to shed a grace over the demeanour, is the object of as
systematic instruction as the sciences. To invigorate frames
not yet possessed of fibre and energy enough for these continu-
ed toils, and to recruit the youthful spirit, liable to be quench-
ed in the gloom of the academy, recreations, athletic sports,
are introduced, under the skilful guidance too, of a master ;
and the muscular powers are artificially developed, at some
bodily risk, and some pecuniary sacrifice, during the remain-
ing vacant hour, or half hour of the day, as anxiously, as if
nature had ever failed to teach her unsophisticated offspring
to sport with gladness and alacrity. I do not say that this
system of training so rigorous, this discipline so austere and
repulsive to the youthful character, is all wrong, nor that it is
enforced by the parents without much sympathy and commis-

17

eration. And unless the child has been placed at such a dis-
tance from the paternal roof, that the voice of his lamentations
may not reach their ear, every species of indulgence, every
modification of pleasure is promptly afforded ; and to atone for
the bondage of the day, the most uncontrolled liberty is grant-
ed in the choice of associates, in the occupation of a leisure
evening, in the employment of a great part of the sabbath.
And when childhood has glided into more mature youth, and
the second stage of preparation for the active duties of life is
about to be assumed, then with how much solicitude is a sta-
tion sought for the young aspirant for honor and wealth ! No
sacrifices are too great, no perseverance in labour is deemed
too severe, if it only furnish a favourable introduction to paths
of worldly prosperity. And, for what, I pray you, has all this
labour been endured, all this pecuniary cost sustained? If
neither the constitution be worn down to premature decrepi-
tude, nor the intellect jaded to a state of irremediable languor
and imbecility ; — if the heart have not assumed a character,
selfish, unamiable, and mercenary, from a long series of in-
structions, calculated to stifle every benevolent impulse ; and
if dishonour and ruin do not follow, from the early indulgence
of passions, which there was no time found to control and
sanctify ; — if the youth escape all snares, and acquire every
desired accomplishment of body and intellect, and enter tri-
umphantly upon a career the most dazzling to the parent's
ambition ; — what is the utmost degree of enjoyment and suc-
cess that can be anticipated ? — The result of all the vicissitudes
of a period of forty, fifty, possibly sixty successive winters

and summers. But what follows ? When, for him alternate
3

18

seasons no longer visit the earth, — when the globe itself, which
has scarcely seemed wide enough for the field of his ambition,
for the fabric of his glory, has fallen into disorganization and
ruin, what will be found to have been done for that prin-
ciple within the youth which can never die ; whose destiny,
— infinite in joy, or wretchedness, — is only now capable of
being modified, is left now to receive its indelible charac-
ter from the impressions which the parents' love and wis-
dom may move them to make upon it ? Can the conscience of
christian parents be silent under the appeal? If the pros-
perity of the short, precarious, often troubled day, of our
offspring's sojourn upon the earth, deserve, in the estimation
of a rational being, all this discipline, — what is demanded of
us to educate them for a perfect state, — for God, — for immor-
tality ?

Let me now briefly show the characteristics of christian
education, which is education for eternity, in contradistinction
to education for the world.

It may be remarked here, that the object being of universal
importance, the means of effecting it must be attainable by all,
must be adapted to the condition of all. I do not say, that the
circumstances of some men's condition are not peculiarly fa-
vourable to the right training and nurture of their children :
but that the great outline, the general principles, all that is
essential, must be practicable in all the common conditions of
life. And if this be so, — if God, in his mercy, has made the
means of religious education co-extensive with the necessity,
let no parent venture to decide, that the care, vigilance, and
perseverance demanded, surpass his power and opportunity;

19

and that the moral principles of his children must be left to the
natural course of things. Let him remember that, at least, his
domestic quietude, the amiable and happy temperament of his
children, their worldly prosperity, his security from public
censure, can with certainty be secured only by a faithful dis-
charge of these duties. And that having the divine promises
to rely upon ; if the work be undertaken and accompanied
throughout with prayer ; if the example of the parent be a liv-
ing illustration of the qualities which he would have his off-
spring imbibe ; if both parents coincide in carrying on the en-
dearing task ; and if, next to the business of their own salvation,
it be mutually regarded by them as the great business of their
existence upon the earth, they are privileged to hope, that,
sooner or later, it will be found happily accomplished.

The first general observation that I will suggest, relates to
the time of commencing this important work. Much is lost if
it be not undertaken early. It is difficult to determine at what
period of infancy, a tone of voice, an expression of countenance,
may not impose a sense of restraint. However, long the com-
mencement may be postponed, it must be attended with diffi-
culty, which, a habit in the child of deriving pleasure from the
indulgence of its own will, only increases. And whether you
consider the absolute power of the parent at that period, the
warmth of the infantile affections, its comparative freedom
from strong and bad passions, or its pliability of character, it
will appear that very few months of its life can elapse without
furnishing an opportunity of laying the foundation of parental
government. There is something criminally selfish in allow-
ing the years of infancy to escape unimproved, because, during

20

that period, its wrong propensities cannot very much disturb
us, and its characteristic attractions amuse, and engage our
hearts ; and when these attractions begin to decay, and our
unmingled indulgence begins to render the innate faults vexa-
tious deformities, then suddenly to change smiles into frowns,
and to reproach as crimes, what a few months before, we had
almost admired as the promise of engaging qualities. In some
measure, as clay in the potter's hand, is the heart of an infant
in the hand of a mother. And she may take a lesson from the
artisan, who allowing many minutes to escape, that he might
admire the fanciful forms into which accident had thrown the
material of his work, and dilatory in commencing the process,
would find that it had lost its pliant nature, and refused to re-
ceive the finer impressions of the mould into which it was
cast.

Christian education also is studious to present right motives
of action. No fact is more universally admitted than that
there is in extreme youth, a susceptibility of receiving the
most lasting impressions. And yet a vast majority of men act
towards their children, on totally opposite principles. And
the motives which are suggested to govern a child's conduct,
and the impressions thus cherished, if carried into a future
period of life, are such as would create the strongest resistance
to the spirit of the gospel. The wildest reveries of the ima-
gination, superstitious notions having no warrant or corres-
pondence in any thing known to them, take a powerful hold
upon the imagination of children. Why may not right notions
of God, the Saviour, and an universal providence; of an ad-
monishing Spirit; of an omnipresent judge; of death, which

21

more frequently overtakes infancy than manhood ; of a future
state, through whose hidden chambers of joy or of sorrow, the
imagination may rove, without fear of surpassing the things
prepared for us ; — why may not these be employed habitually
and familiarly in forming the youthful character ? Look for a
moment, at the nature of the three great means of excitement,
resorted to in the prevailing systems of education. First,
there are rewards and punishments; which, brought in as sub-
sidiary to the influence of christian motives, and as the sanc-
tions of christian principle, are always important, sometimes
indispensable. But when the duty is to be performed, and
the evil to be suppressed, merely because reward follows the
one, and pain the other, the tendency of the whole must be to
create a grovelling, selfish, character, acted upon by no noble
aims, but making the present gratification of sense and self,
the great criterion of right and wrong. Then follows emula-
tion, which, I have already said, is cherished with the greatest
assiduity, and yet, (if it be not paradoxical) is indolently relied
upon, as the great spring to regulate the whole scheme. And
what are the true ingredients of emulation, as it acts upon
a heart not yet purified and elevated by the spirit of Chris-
tianity ? They are, a malicious satisfaction in the defeat
and humiliation of a competitor, combined with pride and
vanity, on account of one's own greater merit and success.
We may imagine that the bosom of perfect beings might
swell with desire to utter the noblest song of praise, to be
penetrated with the most profound abasement in its adora-
tion, and to rival the rest of the sacred throng in the warmth
of its love, and in the zeal of its service. And it would be

22

humility, and not pride, that would urge to the competition.
But to foster a spirit of rivalry in a child, not chastened,
not fortified, by experience of the hallowing power of religion,
is assiduously to make him what, the alienated friendships, and
the exasperated enmities of his social circle, will soon prove
it least desirable that a man should be. And the third great
principle of conduct inculcated by those who are careless
about christian education, is regard to worldly success and ad-
miration. Study is to be endured, because it is necessary to
professional distinction. For this, the taste is to be refined
and polished. An insinuating gentleness of demeanour is to be
adopted, because it secures attachment, and co-operation, and
praise. Genius and labour are employed just so far as wealth
and honour seem to him to demand the price. And flattery,
falsehood, and hypocrisy, are unhesitatingly resorted to, to open
his passage, and smooth his path, as he selfishly urges his mea-
sures through the tumultuous rivalry. And what is the result
of such lessons ? To enthrone the world in his slavish and
sensual spirit. Christian education, on the contrary, suggests
as motives to the youthful mind, the favour of that perfect
Being, with whom is no caprice, " neither shadow of turn-
ing-," accountability for talents graciously bestowed; the
peaceful and honourable pleasures of a mind which delights
in doing good ; the salutary influence even upon worldly suc-
cess of virtuous industry; the gradual qualifying, in spiri-
tual attainments, for those promises, which soon, very soon,
will be the only remaining possession of all, whether lofty
or obscure. If the affections of early youth be pure and un-
sullied, as many delight to imagine them, then such views

harmonizing with their innate feelings, must be readily adopt-
ed. And if, on the other hand, the organized germ of passion
and crime be there, the principles which I would repudiate,
as belonging to systems of worldly education, must bring them
forth with frightful precocity, or impart to them a malignant
energy.

To christian training or nurture, the exercise of uniform and
inflexible decision, is highly important. Revelation is distin-
guished throughout by this feature. Though full of gentleness
to the hnmble, it has not the faintest shadow of compromise.
It never recedes from its decisions. Its author exhibits it pro-
minently, as among his characteristics, " I change not :" and
the whole government under which he has placed man, from
his earliest decree, is designed to exercise in him a spirit of
implicit submission. The effects of this are happy every
where. In all the relations of life, in the largest, as well as
in the smaller communities, a cheerful and prompt submission to
lawful authority is conducive, not only to good order and safe-
ty, but to the contentment and enjoyment of the governed.
Now, we must admit, that a quality which revealed reli-
gion, and social order, equally demand, should be carefully fos-
tered in the infant mind. Implicit submission to the authority of
the parent, prepares the way for the subsequent exercise of the
authority of the gospel. It is not meant to recommend severi-
ty, but firmness. Not the adoption of many and austere rules
of conduct, but a steadfast adherence to those few and mild
principles which have been judiciously chosen. A single con-
flict will very often establish such authority. To rebuke a
fault is a solemn duty, and should be discharged as such, with-

out fickleness or passion, but with calmness and gravity. But
when this is done, avoid a tantalizing recurrence to it. No
character was ever improved by fretful and frequent reproach-
es. They destroy the sensibility of the child, and diminish
his respect and affection, both of which are indispensable to
successful parental government. To cherish these, manifest
an interest in his concerns, and confidentially discuss with him
your own. Identify yourself with his amusements, particular-
ly if they are of a scientific character, and aid him in them.
Seek familiar conversation with him, without obtruding, as a
restraint or check, upon hours or engagements, in which he
would obviously prefer to be alone. While such a deportment
is maintained, the knowledge that severity may be resorted to,
will generally effect all that discipline requires. And where
it fails, a deep and anxious enquiry should arise, whether ap-
peals to the heart and the understanding, with all the ingeni-
ous devices which religion and affection dictate, have been
faithfully employed.

Perhaps in vulgar minds, superstition is esteemed as a low-
er species of religion, and rather auxiliary to its aims. No-
thing can be more erroneous. It not merely shares that influ-
ence which the supreme being should have undividedly over
the heart, but it is hostile to his control. A fear of the agen-
cy of disembodied spirits, a belief that certain days are ill-
starred and disastrous, an observation of omens in the common
occurrences of the world, every thing that would represent
a supernatural agency, apart from God's system, — every
thing that would represent the interposition of His providence
a9 guided and carried on upon other principles, than those

25

which he has revealed, is inconsistent with the reverence due
to his attributes. The manly vigour of the intellect is impair-
ed by superstition. Fear and hope, directed towards God as
the sole governor of the world, are enfeebled by superstition.
The decision with which we would engage in any worthy en-
terprize, is liable to be impaired by superstition. Many an
hour of rational enjoyment may be clouded, many an effort
may be misguided or abandoned, through the power which a
weak and mischievous tradition may acquire over the credu-
lous. It is not enough to strive to disabuse the infant mind of
superstition : the discussion of every corresponding topic, by
servants or others, should be sternly prohibited ; or when un-
fortunately introduced, dismissed with some brief explanation,
as frivolous and discreditable. It is not irrelevant to this point
to add, that parents themselves, sometimes transmit to their
offspring an inheritance of absurd aversions, unavailing fears,
and irrational theories, which the mere exhibition of their
timidity, has insensibly fixed in the susceptible imagination
of the child.

The common defects of education are violations of an obvi-
ous expediency. And it is difficult to account for many of
them, except through the mingled slothfulness and indecision
which cause men to submit to prevailing evils, until the extre-
mity of the oppression stirs up a desperate energy in throw-
ing it off. If a youth destined, under what were deemed pro-
pitious circumstances, to the conflicts and rewards of public
life — to an intercourse with courts and cabinets — were left dur-
ing his first twenty years engrossed in the pursuits of the agri-
culturist, with no other means of intellectual improvement
4

26

than the associations of a village — or if he were doomed for
the same period, to the duties of a seaman before the mast, — who
would fail to censure the ill-judged arrangement? If one
whose condition, it was foreseen, would demand much capaci-
ty to endure hardships and toil, were permitted to pass his
youth amidst the refinements and artificial indulgences of an
opulent city, — what individual would not scoff at the cruel im-
policy ! Yet there is a much grosser absence of forecast,
and practical discretion, in the mode of training youth for
their eventful christian career. What is the condition of a boy,
whose preliminary education had been conducted amidst the
sheltered and safe associations of his father's house, when first
introduced into the halls of a public academy ! Who can just-
ly delineate, without offending the ear, or shocking the moral
sense, the profane and obscene conversation, the unfeeling
boisterousness, and the deep-engendered profligacy of spirit,
which characterize many public schools. I speak not without
observation, nor without the knowledge that teachers them-
selves often mournfully reiterate similar sentiments. This
however is but the first stage in the young pilgrim's journey.
Let a parent, with but slight reflection upon the outline of
life, with but moderate sensibility to the moral excellence
and genuine happiness of his offspring, look forward to the
trials and duties to be anticipated in every one's lot. That
child, now so helpless, so amiable, so fragile, must go out, —
perhaps when your voice hushed in the tomb, can no longer
utter either admonition or consolation, — he must go out into
a selfish world, to encounter snares and perplexities; to sustain
toils and disappointments ; to resist passions within, and com-

27

petitions without ; sometimes to be borne down by bodily
disasters ; sometimes to have the heart withered, and crush-
ed, under the weight of bereavements ; and, at length, — when
this long day of trials begins to decline, to see and feel the
gradual loosening of all that he has thus toiled for, and the
gradual but certain approach of a state, dark, mysterious,
from which, without other support than nature or friends
can give, the soul recoils in sadness and terror. Some-
thing of what I have delineated is inevitable in the case of
every one. To more than I have delineated, an inscrutable
providence may have destined your child, however brilliant his
prospects now are. How may a single early association, a
single early disastrous attachment, give a tone to the whole
earthly allotment; and doom to sorrow and humiliation one
that seemed born to virtue and prosperity ! But if such are con-
fessedly the perils and sorrows, which your offspring may en-
counter, how far is the usual plan of what is esteemed the best
academical education, adapted to qualify them for the con-
flict,— to qualify them for endurance, for resistance, — and to
render them through all vicissitudes, cheerful, and firm, and
triumphant ?

Admitting, as I do, the tendency of an intimate acquaintance
with many of the Greek and Roman classics, to improve the
taste, and inspire elevated sentiments, to perfect the knowledge
of modern languages, and to afford a rich and refined source of
entertainment, yet I must acknowledge, that the time allotted
to these authors in the universities of Europe, in a christian
point of view, seems indefensible. Putting aside moral con-
siderations, many have thought that there is an obvious in-

28

congruity between the academical pursuits, and the future
prospects, of those large classes of youth among ourselves,
who though destined to active vocations, are instructed during
their earlier years, as if born to labour in the cloisters of a
college. And, while with a morbid sensibility, we aim in
trivial matters at an independence of European control, it
would be humiliating, should we be found, in one of wide
and real moment, submitting to an intellectual vassalage so
much at variance with the state of things existing in this
country. Practical utility is the characteristic aim of all our
other institutions. The distinguished men of the country are
all practical men. And it is a matter to be carefully weighed,
whether such a community should bind their offspring, almost
exclusively for a long and important period, to the study of
authors sometimes sensual and contaminating, when so many
other departments of knowledge, equally fascinating, and to us,
as a nation, much more directly useful, must be slightly attain-
ed, or left wholly untouched.

Now, if this be a plain, common-sense position, in which
most will concur, how much more just is the ground of aston-
ishment, that the whole system of worldly education, exhibits
so imperfect an analogy to the spiritual destiny of the pupil!
I would not so far weary your patience, as to detail here,
minutely, the means of cultivating religious affections. But
to represent the study of christian doctrine, not only as an ap-
propriate, but as the first and indispensable duty of youth ; to
cherish in them love and admiration of the Bible, not by as-
sociating it in their minds with hours of weariness and rebuke,
but by employing it to awaken their noblest affections ; to train

29

their youthful spirit in the exercise of prayer, as the refuge of
the trembling, the consolation of the sad, the guide of the per-
plexed, and the inexhaustible delight of the hopeful believer ;
to guard their sabbath hours from waste and profanation ; and
their hours of leisure and sport, from the snares which unprin-
cipled companions might cast in the way ; to habituate them
to mingle ideas of God, of his providence, and Spirit, with
every occurrence, — with all that they behold, — and to find in
such a recognition, a source of pleasure and virtue ; — these are
means which cannot fail to exert an important influence over
the destiny of the young, and should be prominent features in
every system of education. If many of the studies of youth are
pursued merely for the development of the intellect, — with-
out a positive interest in them, — under the influence of au-
thority,— upon the assurance of others, that mature years will
discover their utility, — there can be no rational objection to
the exercise of the same influence in behalf of religion, nor to
employ similar docility and leisure, in the attainment of truths
of immediate application, and of everlasting importance.

Perhaps with a still more anxious appeal to the con-
science, should a parent ascertain what influence over his off-
spring, his own intercourse must exert; — not only his ab-
servations to them, — for these they may regard as his lec-
ture,— but his whole conversation, in their presence. En-
quire what impression your characteristic habits, tone of feel-
ing, weight of example, by its close and constant application
to their eye, and ear, and heart, will leave upon their char-
acter. You are their earthly providence. They must grow
up under the shadow of your wing. How blessed the child,

30

whose growing virtues prove that he has found the bosom of
his parent, at once an emblem, and an agent, of the kind pro-
vidence of God ! Supremely anxious for their safety and hap-
piness; hovering over them with a tenderness which scarcely
any other relation in life can create; in the midst of the com-
panions, and conversations, and pleasures, and the sorrows of
the world, do you draw them around you, with a sense of
your awful accountability to your common Father ? — Or, plac-
ing those children at a distance, purchasing for them merce-
nary guardianship, striving to shake off scour responsibility,
and careless of cherishing their affections, do you fill the pro-
per seats of those offspring with strangers ; and waste your
warm sympathies, your hours of gladness, the instructive
fruits of your experience, upon the heartless companions with
which the world will supply your prosperous fire-side ? Sur-
rendered to an impetuous love of pleasure, and impelled by a
blind indulgence of your offspring, do you conduct them with
you, into scenes at least questionable for a fallible being, —
which cannot foster the purity that religion inculcates ? Or,
conscious of the madness of such a training of the youthful
character, do you refuse to let them accompany you ; and, by
such a prohibition, only inflame their zeal to partake of plea-
sures which are thus represented, as too pungent for their ten-
der age ? Tempering their awe of the unseen sovereign of
nature, by allowing them to witness the cheerful and affection-
ate confidence with which you approach his mercy seat, do
you encourage them to carry, day by day, their fears and
their hopes, their conflicts and their follies, their desires and
their regrets, and to surrender all to his holy disposal ? Or,

31

are they left to suspect, from all that they see of your exam-
ple, that religion is merely a code of prohibitions, which we
are taught for half an hour on Sunday, and which it is a pe-
nance to think of at any other time ? Little, I am aware, need
be said, to prove, that in the example and intercourse of the
parent, consists a radically important part of christian educa-
tion.

Allow me to offer one other suggestion, as highly condu-
cive to the success of every other means. I allude to the
expediency of greatly multiplying in this country, sub-colle-
giate schools, like those of Eton and Westminster in England,
for the purpose of allowing primary classical education to be
more frequently conducted at home, — at home, affording the
security and enjoyment of your own roof, and your own table,
if possible, — within frequent access to such privileges, if, from
peculiar circumstances, more cannot be had. Were the ad-
vantages of liberal instruction justly appreciated, there would
remain small necessity for legislative aid. Well would it be,
that from the public treasury, funds were supplied to cherish
genius, and to elicit eminent worth from poverty and obscuri-
ty. Noble would be the task of a legislative body, to train,
perhaps for their own halls and offices, those whom adverse
circumstances had doomed to a more humble vocation. But
the citizens of any populous town, must be blind to their own
honour, and pleasure, as well as interest, in failing to establish,
within their own precincts, a school exclusively devoted to the
cause of literature and science. Half the sums lavished in a
vain ostentation, in aping foreign follies, and importing foreign
vices, would introduce into almost every town, all those de-

32

partments of science, which refine, and exalt, and bless hu-
man kind. From the wide extent of our territory, instead of
a liberal education being now attainable by large classes of
the community, but a small portion of it enjoys such pri-
vileges ; — at much pecuniary sacrifice too, and at the risk of
much moral evil. Local attachments are weakened, which in
those especially, who must be the future guardians of the pub-
lic interests, ought to be cherished. And, instead of endeav-
ouring to correct and exalt the prevailing taste, and literary
character, of every city, by inviting into it a body of emi-
nent men, great expense is often actually incurred to main-
tain such men abroad ; thus banishing from their own society,
that class of persons, whose intercourse, and labours, and ex-
ample, would enlighten and dignify them.

I mentioned a purely collegiate institution, because it is
deemed a duty solemnly to protest against the careless expo-
sure of children, in academies and colleges, to the influence of
such religious bias, prejudices, or principles, as the teachers
may happen to approve. Morals have no sure basis but re-
ligion. The pure doctrines of Christianity must be admitted
to exert a happier control, than erroneous, and unscriptural
doctrines, over the conduct and affections. What is pure
Christianity, is a question which it must be supposed every
parent has conscientiously asked, and decided, for himself.
And what he has thus embraced, as in strictest conformity to
revelation, — as the safest guide to eternal life, — he is enjoin-
ed by every sacred obligation to inculcate, and have inculcat-
ed, upon his children. There is a spirit of reckless infidelity
often manifested by parents, in the indifference, or rashness,

33

with which they place their offspring at schools, without re-
gard to the danger of imbibing, what they must conceive to be
an erroneous view of God, — his nature, his worship, and his
will. No academical advantages can justify a parent, in ex-
posing his children to the influence of principles, from the
adoption of which his own conscience would revolt, and
which, an experience of their practical tendency, declares to
be unsound.

Why should a parent send from the shelter which God and
nature designed for the young, those for whose moral princi-
ples, and means of usefulness, and cheerful and innocent en-
joyment of life, he must be primarily accountable ? Is it be-
cause their passions are found to be too strong or perverse,
and their unformed character demanding an energy and vi-
gour of control, which it is irksome to employ ? And shall a
duty towards a little endearing circle from which a parent
shrinks, be performed by a mercenary agent with more effect,
in behalf of thirty, or forty, or perhaps a hundred, to whom
he is only bound by the ties of interest, or transient regard ?
I would not deny that, in some cases, it may be in the power
of the principals of academies and colleges, through the in-
fluence of penalties, and of ambition to excel, and of regard for
future interest, to enforce devotion to study, and a control
over the public deportment of a lad. But can there be no
lurking diseases when the aspect is fair, — no vice, but that which
meets the eye of the world at noonday ? Is every boy safe,
and must he prove a blessing to his family, and an honour to his
country, whom the rigid discipline of a college has rendered
studious, and, so far as decorum in society is concerned, regu-
5

34

lar and upright ? If the sacred influence of home, a mother's
tenderness, a father's authority, the noble ambition to cherish
esteem, and harmony, and enjoyment, where brothers and sis-
ters are continually assembled about the same board — if all
this fail to give an amiable and honourable impression to the
character, a school-master's frown, or penalties, or admoni-
tions, cannot effect more. Of what description are the lads that
are generally educated at a distance from their parents ? The
docile, virtuous, diligent, who afford early fruit, as well as
blossoms, for the delight of the cultivator ? Not at all.
But you send away, — I speak of ordinary practice and mo-
tives,— you send away the obdurate, and the impetuous, those
that seem to have a premature bias to vice, who are not
safe from contagion even within the almost monastic seclu-
sion, if you choose to make it so, of your own walls. And
whither do you send them? To an institution to which
probably fifty, or perhaps five hundred, other parents have,
from the same views, sent their obdurate, and impetuous, and
prematurely vicious sons also. Exposed as they have been,
by day and by night, to your observation, you have ascertain-
ed that there is much, or something, to fear, for their morals,
and future prosperity in the world. And, therefore, you place
them in some of the wards of such a lazar-house of moral dis-
eases, at the distance of two or three hundred miles from you ;
and you lie down quietly in your beds at night, with the com-
fortable assurance, because you do not see the malignant symp-
toms of approaching ruin, that such do not exist, — that all is
well, — that you have done the best for your children. The
principal of the distant academy, long tried in his awfully re-

35

sponsible office, having proved that human agency, under such
circumstances, can do no more for your sons, or daughters,
writes you, — and he sees nothing in their countenances, or cour-
teous deportment, to warrant a contrary impression, — that they
are obedient, diligent, and go uniformly to church, and have
accomplished a certain term or course of study. And upon
the principles imbibed, and the affections cherished, during
such terms of study, under such circumstances of danger to
the honourable and virtuous feelings of the heart, depend the
earthly career, and the immortal privileges, of the children
that God has given you.

But it must be admitted that, these evils, great and deplora-
ble as they appear, are at present in many cases unavoidable ;
and a liberal education can be attained by multitudes, only on
condition of their encountering such risks. But what would
seem to be the dictate of prudence, where education at a dis-
tance from home, is found to be inevitable ? Let the distance
be as small, let the alienation from your child be as often in-
terrupted, as possible. And, instead of aiding to congregate
boys in large masses, where moral or immoral impressions
may be quickly, and continually, and powerfully, communicat-
ed from one to another, secure for him the privileges of a pri-
vate residence, of domestic religious instruction, of pastoral
care. And if nothing could prevail with you to sanction his
intimacy with one unprincipled companion, when under your
own guardianship, expose him not abroad to the contamination
of many such, without striving to give him some equivalent
for parental vigilance and counsel.

36

I shall conclude these strictures with a single remark. It is
often objected, as at variance with mercy and justice in the
Almighty, that he has threatened to recompense " the iniquity
of the fathers, into the bosom of their children after them."
And yet is it not incontrovertible, — that the parent himself, is
often the agent in extorting, and executing, and consummating,
this most awful of maledictions ? When the parent has been
guilty of undervaluing spiritual things in his provision for his
child ; of forgetting the privileges, and the perils, of the never
dying spirit, — when, giving his heart's idolatry to wealth and
honour, by example, as well as precept, he has trained his
offspring in such paths — by this system of education, he draws
down the penalty upon his child ; he makes his child the vic-
tim of his impiety ; while, at the same time, by all this pervert-
ed ingenuity and care, he chastises his own love of the world,
with the scourge of an aching heart, which he has taught his
unhallowed son or daughter to inflict upon him.

I would acknowledge an unfeigned sense of obligation, for
the kindness and patience with which you have allowed me
to detain you so long. The engrossing professional duties
that have hitherto forbid me to participate in these anniversa-
ries, may deny me the opportunity of meeting you here again.
And I beg you accept as a memorial of cherished attachment,
an effort, however humble, to awaken increased solicitude
on a subject important to us, as patriots, as parents, and
as christians. On such a day as this, it is as christians we
are likely to allow it most weight. If every day fixes the
stigma of vanity, upon the noblest acquisitions and achievements
that belong to time, it is upon occasions like the present,

37

that we feel most deeply the admonition. They are often
salutary occurrences in life. How mighty is the infatuation
which, in the tumult of worldly pursuit, hides from us the
instability of our condition ! We are passing so nigh to the
ocean which must eventually overwhelm our path, that the
sullen moan of its dark waters would perpetually remind us of
an inevitable doom ; and yet we scheme and build as if upon
a mountain which could never be shaken. The patriarchs,
over whose age of primitive moderation and simplicity cen-
turies rolled, without abating their natural force, or causing
their eye to be dim, all felt that they were strangers and pil-
grims. But we are apt to let the imagination wander over our
three-score and ten years, as if we could never reach its bourn.
Here, however, — upon these anniversaries, — when we have
looked in vain for those who once cheered our labour, aided
us in difficulty, or taught us to look upon the future with hope,
a lesson is urged effectually upon the heart ; — time, with its
vain disquietudes and delusions, — and eternity, with its majestic
and awful realities, are impressively contrasted; — and we re-
turn wiser and calmer to the duties that remain. It is under
the influence of such feelings, and with grateful recollections
of the ties, — endearing, and almost sacred, — that united us
within the walls of our Alma Mater, that I leave you, beloved
companions, respected friends, and bid you, — farewell.

ERRATA.

Page 9, line 17— after "edifice," read "rising."

Page 20, 3d line from the bottom,— for "imagination," read "heart."

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